Dear New People from theladyscribe's friending meme

[intrigueing]

Perhaps this is a good time to put out a post on my current (and everchanging) fannishness, as I've just acquired several subscriptions/accesses from the good folk at theladyscribe 's "if you build it, they will come" friending meme:

My journal looks pretty empty, yeah. All my fannish stuff is public, but I have written a great deal of fic unattached to this username in previous years that I will never 'fess up to. I have written a gigantic quantity of meta, but alas, it is all in the form of comments on various comms and journals (especially fandomsecrets , fail_fandomanon , and various non-DW/LJ platforms. My profile tells me that as of tonight I have logged 5,856 comments on this profile since July 2012. My eyes sort of bugged when I saw that.

So, I'm in transition at the moment: it was only this fall that I am finally starting to post my fic, meta, fic reviews, random fannishness, etc, on my journal. I'll update fairly regularly, and have sworn to complete a certain number of fics and fic reviews in the near future. My current interest is fandom history - old, old fandoms, old, old fanfics, and the whole culture they occurred in, which I've been studying through fanlore.org aka the most awesome fandom-related site ever. I'm in the middle of reviewing two 1970s Star Trek TOS and Starsky & Hutch fanzines. My plans after I finish doing that will be to write fics for Guardians of the Galaxy and Harry Potter and then more fic for several other fandoms as fast as I can, and post a wide variety of shortish fannish thoughts every few days. Sample thoughts I'm planning:

• I've been feeling incredibly nostalgic for my time when I was immersed in DC and Marvel comics fandom - my happiest fandom time by a long shot - so there will probably be long rambling meta on Gotham City and Metropolis and the DC Universe as a whole and how Crisis on Infinite Earths is so important to its character and several other ideas. And about the Marvel Universe and community and how citizens can adapt to anything, including superheroes, as business-as-usual. My love for these fictional worlds knows no bounds.

• I need to write that long fandom manifesto about how Starsky & Hutch is glorious and still compelling and underexplored in many different ways that are simultaneously not about and all about the unparalleled central partnership because it's all interconnected and essential for creating the context in which said partnership can exist. Half of that post will probably be eaten by musings about Watergate and me telling people to just read The Ollie Report instead.

• I really honestly do need to write that Star Trek essay about the extremely enjoyable brain-bending one needs to do in order to suspend one's disbelief about a show about the future written by writers in the present. Which has been percolating in my brain since around 2009. I keep forgetting parts of it because I'm too lazy to write it down, eep!

• I am strongly considering writing a series of fairy tale AUs/retellings for every single canonical work I have ever been fannish about. I can't figure out if this is a terrible idea or not

• The sometimes Twlight-Zone-ish experience of being a gen fan who actually does love the hell out of slash and het and femslash, but gen just has that special place in one's heart that has nothing to do with being disinterested in romance and everything to do with that elusive vibe that's so hard to articulate in the context of shipping-heavy fandom.

• A bunch of old classic movie reviews centering on "so I've watched this movie about 5 times but this time I noticed this other thing..."

• It has only just occurred to me recently that I have never told a single soul anywhere, online or off, how much the character of Buffy Summers meant for me.

I'm mostly just saying this stuff so that I have at least perceived peer pressure to actually do it instead of just privately telling myself I'm totally going to do it, someday, for reals.

And while I probably can't do a specific day-by-day version of the December Talking Meme, I would be very open to suggestions for topics that I'll promise to answer sometime in December...

Thank you so much to everyone who subscribed. I am awkward about stuff like this, so I guess, Welcome!

ETA: Guess I should also pimp this friending meme from LJ:


( multi-fandom friending meme. )

Comments

[tei]

Hello! *waves!*

fanlore is the greatest! I am excited to look through the Contact zine you linked to in your last post-- I didn't spend a lot of time in Star Trek fandom (a bit around the time of the first reboot movie) but I really love reading older fic and learning about fannish history.

I would be really excited to hear your thoughts about being a gen fan! I'm someone who almost never actually goes looking for gen, but someones falls across it and when it's good I get really confused as to why I like it so much. I guess that's not actually a December meme request, just particular enthusiasm about one of the points you were already going to talk about.

[intrigueing]

Fanlore is like...the best library in the world. I am just so, so fascinated by how all the fandom/fanfic trends and tropes and practices came about. It's like archeology! I'll be posting a review of Contact #2 this weekend, probably. I planned to post it yesterday but then I suddenly had a bunch of McCoy thoughts and have to write those down first.

Well, I will do the gen post in December and credit you on it because I always do stuff better if I promise someone I'll do it. Deal? ;) Briefly, though, I actually think gen has a lot in common with slash in a weird roundabout way -- mainstream media is so inundated with that "standard-issue-het-romance-is-necessary-to-make-viewers-care-about-a-story" paradigm that seeing it turned on its head, either by having the romance be m/m or f/f, or by having the emotional core be about something that has nothing to do with romance, kind of elicits a satisfying unexpected thrill. (I love het romance too, but I prefer it to be unusual in some way).

[tei]

Wow, I had never thought about gen like that but it makes a lot of sense! I look forward to your post! :D

[jae]

I had to think hard and read lots about Watergate to write my yuletide assignment from last year! This is one thing I'm actually really enjoying about my main recent fandom and a lot of the secondary one: excuses to explore things about recent history that I've always been aware of but never known much about.

-J

[intrigueing]

I just recently rewatched All The President's Men and it gets better every time I rewatch it.

I've been studying a lot of 2nd-half-of-20th-century history for a fic I'm writing -- it's SUCH a great excuse! I love history but I usually procrastinate away chances to study it, so fandom excuses are awesome. *high five*

[lynndyre]

Hello! ^.^

For December sometime - What are your favourite tropes for gen? What kinds of stories hit that perfect vibe?

I'm a hurt/comfort writer most of the time, and I've gradually drifted more and more towards gen or very light slash that hits the friendship tropes I love. I remember a lot of the TOS novels were amazingly tropetastic for being gen.

[intrigueing]

My first and greatest love is hurt/comfort too! But after reading so much of it for so long, I've gotten pretty picky about it having to not be boring or cookie-cutter. I once wrote a super long rambly dissertation on h/c and friendship and emotional torque but I'm not sure I described any of it properly. It's hard!

My favorite gen tropes are often friendship-related or family-related things that are more likely to get explored in romance -- in-depth exploration of two characters' relationship with actual conversations between them, big angsty fights with eventual satisfying reconciliation, demonstrations of intense loyalty/supportiveness/compassion, discussion of really private, personal issues, etc. I like uncommon things.

I also really, really love worldbuilding (not restricted to fantasy/sci-fi -- I love worldbuilding of any fictional place), minor-character-POVs, anything where enemies or two people who sincerely despise each other have to work together, ensemble-fics that highlight all the different dynamics between the various characters....a lot of others I forget. ;)

[moetushie]

You're a gentlefailer? Awesome, so am I. :)

But namespace has it's own appeal, as well.

I am strongly considering writing a series of fairy tale AUs/retellings for every single canonical work I have ever been fannish about. I can't figure out if this is a terrible idea or not.

That is a deeply cool idea that I might just steal, maybe. It would make a pretty interesting drabble series anyway.

[intrigueing]

My problem is that I have a very hard time telling the difference between authentically fairy-tale-sounding and confusing, so I'm self-conscious.

Also, what's a gentlefailer? *is curious*

[lunabee34]

Somebody who comments on FFA.

[intrigueing]

Ahhh thanks haha, I never knew that! Well, I haven't been there very long... ;)

[silverr]

"I've been feeling incredibly nostalgic for my time when I was immersed in DC and Marvel comics fandom - my happiest fandom time by a long shot - so there will probably be long rambling meta on Gotham City and Metropolis and the DC Universe as a whole"

Would you be open, at some point, to chatting with me about certain characters (specifically, Jason Blood and Etrigan)? ~ I am creeping closer to finally having time to do some Demon Knights fic, and I always like to have as much backstory/alternate canon as possible. (I already picked up the 4 Madame Xanadu TPBs.)

[intrigueing]

Alas! I have little to no experience with these specific characters. While my affair with DC and Marvel was passionate, it was hampered by a lack of broad exposure. Perhaps someone more familiar with those characters will be in a better position to help you, sorry.

[silverr]

Ah, okay, no worries! ~ I got the impression that Jason Blood at least was woven into some of the Batman storylines (but I know there are tons, and I have no idea where).

[intrigueing]

Yeah, sorry, I guess that's one of my gaps. :( IIRC, he was featured in the DCAU at some point, but I never watched much of the DCAU.

[lunabee34]

Talk to me about food!

[intrigueing]

FOOD! I'll do yours first.